Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Every now and then I want to scratch the character itch. Here are some female character sketches done on my spare time. It's good to wake the figure drawing muscles a bit. Sometimes the job doesn't allow enough time to practice the human form as much as I'd like. Female characters are notoriously challenging to get right; I thought I'd share some exercises.

Some head exercises to try out different personalities. Maybe the 4 on the left belong to the same gang of punk outlaws. The rest are a bit more random, especially bottom right, which is obviously inspired by Solid Snake :)

No real theme here other than powerful female characters. The one on the right is obviously a nod to Star Wars.

The
process, starting from basic pose suggestion to finding secondary
details, then cleaning up the lines in a new layer, and making some
needed changes to make the pose more dynamic as well as adding basic tone with copic marker (Sketchbook Pro).

Here are a couple of images to give you a taste of the XCOM 2 artbook!

This is the early concept for the Sectoid in XCOM :

Official Sectoid description From 2K Games:
"The Sectoid from XCOM: Enemy Unknown makes a return in XCOM 2, but
even the least-observant soldier on the battlefield is bound to notice
some new characteristics. See how the Sectoid is taller and almost
human-like now? That’s no coincidence!
Through human gene manipulation, the alien invaders have managed to
breed a new version of the Sectoid. This improved Sectoid gains a hefty,
intimidating frame, all while retaining its well-known psionic
abilities. One such ability is called Mindspin, a roulette-type mental
attack that has a chance to disorient a soldier. Mind Control also makes
a return, though in XCOM 2 it’ll be a much more early-game threat.
As for weaponry, Sectoids will once again brandish their patented
wrist-mounted blaster. The Sectoid pictured above must have forgotten
its weapon at home."

Monday, July 27, 2015

I've finally finished a piece that I started way back in April as a sketch responding to Nepal's devastating earthquake, and over time became a more involved painting. The effects of the disaster go well beyond aftershocks - they are still being felt today by millions of Nepalese people in several other forms, many of which are intangible. This is my personal attempt to capture that feeling. Whether that's in literal or symbolic form is up to interpretation.
-P

Piero Macgowan is a Mexican-born, Senior Concept Artist at Firaxis Games in Baltimore, USA, as well as an Illustrator, Fine Artist, and College Professor. Since joining Firaxis in 2007 he has played a pivotal role in developing the XCOM franchise from the beginning, as well as providing support for other projects like the Civilization franchise. He obtained his B.F.A. in Illustration with Honors from the Maryland Institute College of Art.